Oscars?

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Thatfishboy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 9, 2015
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Northern indiana
I have a 50 gallon tank and I would like to use it as an Oscar tank. Species only btw. Plus, there will only be one Oscar in it. I would like to know if I could keep an Oscar in there and for how long. The tank is 12"-20"-48". It is gravel bottom. Running 2 heaters, 1power head , and a marine land 50-75 gallon filter.


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You can make it work. That's basically the bare bare minimum tank size. I'd maybe add another filter.

Oscars are messy fish. You'll have to do large water changes like 70% or greater at the very least one time per week, preferably twice weekly. In that small volume of water it is very easy to let your oscar fall prey to nitrate toxicity.

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They say that oscars need 75g minimum, but a lot of people do keep them in a 55g. The only real difference is a bit of extra turning room. If you end up with a male that grows to 14" he will be too cramped. but until your oscar grows that large, and if it never does, a 55g would be perfectly fine. It really depends what you are happy with.

As long as you feed him well and keep the water quality good Its better than him being in a pet store 20 gallon. Maybe if you can get hold of a 75g that would be a tank for its entire life without any issues, is upgrading an option ?

also hopefulyl a mod will move this to the CA/SA section
 
Thatfishboy said:
Upgrading is an option.
70%?!?!?! Even if he is the only fish in the tank?
I'll get another filter.
Click to expand...

Another filter is a always a good idea, but only because it will convert to nitrate better, the nitrate will still need to be removed through water changes regardless of the filtration.
 
Thatfishboy said:
Upgrading is an option.
70%?!?!?! Even if he is the only fish in the tank?
I'll get another filter.


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Click to expand...

Yes 70%. Oscars produce a ton ammonia through respiration and through regular waste. These fish eat alot. The ammonia turns into nitrates via the magic of the nitrogen cycle. A 25% water change isn't going to be enough to dilute nitrates down to an acceptable level, week after week, they'll steadily climb and compound exponentially until the fish dies of a fungal infection or his organs shut down due to severe nitrate toxicity.

He's one fish but he's literally the equivalent to going to the petstore and buying TWO POUNDS of neon tetras and putting jamming them all in a 50gal. Lol.

He's a big fish and needs a large volume of water. The only way to get around this is to continually replace the toxic water with clean water.

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70% isn't even that big of a water change, not sure why that seems shocking. I've got an Oscar in a 125 and I try to do 90% a week. I also have to do a lot of filter maintenance.
 
Big cichlids like oscars tend to be able to handle large water changes. I would just be worried about replacing too much of the cycled water and causing some problems with the filter bacteria. Planted aquariums with smaller more delicate fish in higher numbers tend to not like large water changes.

If you don`t already have the tank I would say just go for a 75 now it will easily save you the money. Or you could upgrade in 9 months or so and keep the 55g for another project. either way if you get a tiny juvie you can keep him in the 55 for quite some time.
 
Yeah it can work I always did small daily water changes just to keep the waste out and make it look nicer.
 
cichlidmonger said:
70% isn't even that big of a water change, not sure why that seems shocking. I've got an Oscar in a 125 and I try to do 90% a week. I also have to do a lot of filter maintenance.
Click to expand...
70% means 30% water left in the tank, 70> 30 so that's a big waterchange.... Frequent smaller changes is recommended.
 
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